Funny story -- we pretty much heard this exact same rumor floating around last August, but given the current economic situation, we're inclined to believe this one a good bit more. A recent Reuters report is pointing out that RIM (like practically every other company right about now) is ripe for the picking, and any outfit with a serious load of cash reserves could get themselves quite a bargain. Given that the Redmond mega-corp has shown interest before (and clearly has plenty of Greenbacks), we were particularly interested in Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek's quote: "I'm fairly certain [Microsoft] has a standing offer to buy [RIM] at $50 a share." If you'll recall, RIM's stock sat at $148 per share just four months ago, and now, it's hovering around $60. As expected, Microsoft had no comment on the report, but don't be surprised to see something go down if Wall Street keeps hemorrhaging.

[Via Electronista]

Steve Ballmer's whirlwind UK media tour ahead of the Professional Developers Conference just keeps giving us sound bite gems: first it was Windows Cloud, then Zune on Windows Mobile, and now Stevie's taking shots at Android and the G1. Calling Microsoft David to Google's search Goliath, Ballms said that he wasn't worried about Android because it won't be "attractive" to other handset manufacturers because it's "version one... and it looks like version one." Not only that, but he apparently thinks Google's going to sit still, saying "they've got one handset maker, we've got 55. They're available through one operator, we've got 175." True for now, sure, but we know Android isn't going to languish on a single handset on a single carrier for long -- and we're pretty certain Steve knows that HTC and T-Mobile aren't exactly minor players, regardless. Still, it's some masterful bluster from a master of bluster -- now if he'd just back it up with Windows Mobile 7, we'd be way more inclined to believe him.

[Via Cool Smart Phones]

Rumors of a Zune phone have floated around forever, but we've always thought it would make more sense for Microsoft to start by simply making a Zune player for Windows Mobile -- a plan Steve Ballmer casually confirmed today in an interview with CIO Magazine. Sure, Ballmer's hinted at Zune on WinMo in the past, but those were just hints -- not like today's pronouncement that "the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc." That's a pretty solid declaration of things to come, if you ask us -- too bad he didn't give a time frame. Now, about that 360 integration.

[Via WM Power User]

Nokia has announced that it'll no longer be working on its own "business mobility solutions," reallocating some of the knowledge and manpower in that division over to its consumer-focused push email client that recently launched in beta form. For what it's worth, the announcement comes across not as a message that Nokia's abandoning its enterprise customers -- far from it, in fact, with the Eseries looking better than ever -- but as a genuine admission that other companies with established solutions are better cut out to manage that functionality, even on Nokia's own S60. Interestingly, Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco are all mentioned as partners with commitments to develop for Nokia's wares, but noticeably missing is RIM, whose BlackBerry Connect went missing on the E66 and E71. These days, it's hard to mention "enterprise" without also mentioning "BES" in the same sentence, so we're not too sure how far Nokia's going to get here without roping RIM back into the equation.

Microsoft revealed that it was working on pumping some much-needed TLC into Internet Explorer Mobile back in April, and now we're finally starting to see some fruits of that labor -- nothing we can touch and play with just yet, but hey, a few honest-to-goodness screen shots are a solid start. Internet Explorer 6 on Windows Mobile 6.1 -- "6 on 6" as it's cleverly being billed -- features both desktop and mobile browsing modes, and more importantly, it looks like it might actually be packing enough horsepower to handle the content being returned to it in desktop mode. We don't know when 6 on 6 will start shipping on devices (or, even better, be available as an upgrade for current handsets), but considering that virtually every WinMo user loads Opera out of the box, it couldn't come soon enough for Microsoft.

In fact, the impetus to get 6 on 6 out the door has taken on an even more urgent undertone, with Microsoft's promising research project Deepfish getting retired at the end of the month. Actually, maybe it won't be retired after all; Microsoft's official Deepfish page says it goes away on September 31, 2008, which -- as best as we can tell from our old-fashioned calendar here, anyway -- doesn't exist.

[Via Smartphone Thoughts]

Read - 6 on 6 screen shots
Read - Microsoft Deepfish official site

ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center have historically dominated Microsoft's first-party mobile sync support for Windows, but there's a little problem with that: not everyone uses a WinMo phone. Enter Phone Data Manager, a new app in the spirit of Apple's iSync that knows how to play nice with a whole host of non-WinMo devices and can sync contacts, photos, video, and music into the cloud (Windows Live, that is) and your local PC. It'll have to do calendar sync as well before it can be called a complete solution, but hey -- it's in beta, so we can hope.

[Via Symbian Freak]

We've heard it time and time again, but the inner Zune Guy within us refuses to believe Microsoft is really shunning the chance to pump out a handset of its very own. Unfortunately, Lady Luck hasn't done us any favors since the last time this question was posed, as Scott Rockfeld, group product manager for Windows Mobile, recently confirmed that Microsoft has "no plans to build [its] own phone." He continued by adding that "right now [it's] happy to share the limelight." C'mon Scott -- where's that tenacious spirit you had that first day in Redmond? Where's the unrelenting determination to conquer the competition? Where's... oh, never mind.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

Yo, Microsoft, step on the gas and get Windows Mobile 7 out the door, would ya? Gartner's profile of global smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2008 reveals that RIM's BlackBerry OS has jumped over Windows Mobile to become the number two platform finding its way into pockets around the world, while perennial powerhouse Symbian carries on comfortably with the number one spot (and it's not UIQ that's doing the heavy lifting there, if you catch our drift). As a percentage of the overall mobile market, smartphones account for the same 11 percent they did a year ago -- but the entire market saw growth, meaning that total smartphone shipments jumped a solid 15.7 percent over the same period. Well-earned kudos to RIM for knocking WinMo off its high horse, but seriously, Microsoft need only look in the mirror if it wants to know exactly how this came to pass.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

43 devices representing some 80 million mobile phone users -- that's the largess of Nokia announcing Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync support on all its S60 3rd edition devices. Mail for Exchange will also be available out-of-the-box in future E-series and N-series devices. That means future phones like the Nokia Tube and existing, high-end, media-centric devices like the venerable N95 and new N96 will now feel just as comfortable in the beige cubicle as you do.

We've heard Microsoft make vague references for some time about a Zune-like experience involving non-Zune devices (Windows Mobile phones, Xboxen), and it looks like they may be making real moves in that direction. A recent job posting from Redmond for a "Software Development Engineer in Test" calls on someone who "dream[s] about having a mobile phone based entertainment experience powered by a unified entertainment service across devices such as Zune, Xbox and PC." Someone, the ad reads, who will, "create a 'Connected Entertainment' experience, realized through the Zune service, that spans multiple devices such as Zune, Xbox, PC and Mobile phones." Sure, it's not exactly a bold-faced advertisement for a cross-platform Zune environment -- but it's pretty damn close.

[Thanks, Ryan]

While Apple's App Store was far from being the first of its kind, we're now seeing a job posting over in the Redmond area that suggests that Microsoft is looking to produce something similar for its Windows Mobile platform. The news comes hot on the heels of Google's own Android Market announcement, and if the Product Manager position writeup is to be believed, said platform will be christened Skymarket. Described as a "marketplace service for Windows Mobile," Skymarket could seemingly be a critical part of WinMo 7. But don't take our word for it, the proof is the pudding -- or in the read link, in this instance.

[Via The Raw Feed]

Why lust after a Zunephone when you can have an Xbox 360 Sidekick LX? Based on an admittedly bizarre and entirely painful-to-watch video posted up in the read link, Soulja Boy is seen spazzing out over what appears to be a special edition Sidekick LX. The unit is branded (at least in the software) with Xbox 360 logos, and there's also a copy of Resident Evil: Genesis on there that he toys with momentarily. So, the question here: is this thing legit? On one hand, Danger does have a thing for pumping out limited run Sidekicks like they're going out of style, and plus, it would probably have a hard time convincing an A-list rapper to carry a prototype Sidekick. On the other, we're really inclined to believe this is just a sad way for Soulja Boy to fill up his inbox with soulless emails. "SouljaBoyTellEm@tmail.com -- holla atcha boy!"

Of course, it all seems so obvious now! How did we not interpret El Jobso's true meaning of the iPhone kill-switch -- it actually kills you. We have noted iPhone expert Stephen Colbert to thank not just for this brilliant deduction, but also for sticking up for the lot of us and giving the iPhone 3G a cold staredown -- but not before declaring, "I knew I should have gotten a Zune! They can't kill me... or do anything else." Zing! Clip after the break (iPhone at 5:45).

[Thanks, Matt]

First things first: open wide and ingest a mouthful of salt. Put away that bitter beer face and down it, we said! Okay, now that you're adequately skeptical, get a load of this. Word on the street has it that Nokia is currently working with Microsoft in order to integrate the Zune Marketplace into the former firm's handsets. No, there's no talk of a Zune Phone here -- no new hardware at all, actually. Instead, it seems the two could be figuring out a way to offer Zune Marketplace content on Nokia's prolific "non-smartphones." Make no mistake, Nokia sells quite a few low-end handsets, and if the Redmond powerhouse could get its material on 'em... well, we're pretty sure you see where this could go. Oh, and we're totally not buying this until N-Gage pops up on the Xbox 360.

[Via Electronista]

We had heard that Microsoft threw down a cool half billion to acquire Danger earlier this year, but quite honestly, we found it a bit tough to believe. After all, analysts are saying that even Motorola is barely worth that much. Regardless of all that, the outfit's latest quarterly report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission affirms that it did indeed spend $500 million on Danger. That's a lot of jack, son.